


in sickness and in health

by hi_raeth



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, Mentions of Pregnancy, featuring Rose as the bestest of friends, just a bit of plotless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 00:23:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18884344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_raeth/pseuds/hi_raeth
Summary: Flu season returns, and Ben is the first to fall victim to it. But that's okay, because he and Rey have promised to always take care of each other - through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, whether it's seven days or seven months...(The one in which Ben gets a flu, and Rey gets a stomach flu... or does she?)





	in sickness and in health

> **Ben ❤️❤️❤️[04:26PM]:  
>  **I think I’m dying

 Rey rolls her eyes at her husband’s dramatic text and huffs out a little laugh under her breath as she replies. His whiny exaggeration and – more tellingly – the lack of proper punctuation are obvious indicators of his condition, but it’s hardly as serious as his message would suggest.

> **Rey [04:27PM]:  
>  **Pretty sure it’s just the flu, babe
> 
> **Ben ❤️❤️❤️[04:28PM]:**  
>  Come home anyway  
>  Miss you  
>  Please

 She shakes her head at the texts rapidly popping up on her screen and chances a look around the office. The workweek ends in just half an hour, and most people are already winding down for the day, either putting the finishing touches on whatever it is they’re working on or discreetly starting to shut things down and pack up to leave as soon as the clock strikes five.

It’s probably okay for her to leave early just this once.

> **Rey [04:31PM]:  
>  **You’re a bad influence, Ben Solo  
>  Fiiiine  
>  Leaving work soon, will swing by the store on the way home to pick up a couple of things  
>  Try to survive without me for a little longer, okay?  
>  Love you  **❤️**

“Hey, Rose?”

Her cubicle neighbor wheels into sight with a smile on her face. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Ben’s sick, so I think I’m gonna leave early and go get some stuff for him. Can you just let people know if anyone comes looking for me?”

“Sure thing,” Rose agrees easily as she watches Rey pack up for the day. “Send my regards to Ben. Oh, and let me know if you guys need anything.”

With one final click of her mouse, Rey’s workstation is shut down and packed up for the day. “Will do. Thanks, Rose, you’re the best.” She shoulders her bag as she stands and leans down to give Rose a quick hug goodbye, and by the time Ben replies to her message Rey is already on her way down to her car.

> **Ben ❤️❤️❤️[04:37PM]:**  
>  Thank you thank you thank you  
>  Love you too  
>  See you soon, Nurse Rey 😉

If the uncharacteristic use of an emoji is any indication, he’s probably pretty feverish already.

Rey sighs as she pulls out from the underground parking lot and straight into traffic. There’s no escape, not even with a ten-minute head start on everyone else. By the time she finally gets home, armed with the spoils of a quick detour, the winter sun has long since disappeared and so has what little energy Ben managed to derive from his feverish state.

She finds him asleep on the couch, curled up in a quilt from their bed while the TV casts dancing shadows across his face. Rey takes a moment to smile at the scene before she heads straight for the kitchen, careful not to wake Ben as she puts the kettle on and sets aside her purchases. It’s only once she’s armed with some lemon ginger tea and a plate of saltines that she heads back out to her sleeping husband and gently shakes him awake.

“Don’t wanna,” Ben whines even before his eyes are open, face scrunching up as he catches a whiff of the dreaded tea. Rey sets everything down on the coffee table before she braces herself against the couch and _pulls_ , a determined force meeting a stubborn object.

“C’mon, up you go,” she insists as Ben groans and grumbles, and eventually he opens his eyes just long enough to take pity on his wife, forehead creased with effort and chest heaving from exertion. “No complaining from you,” Rey orders as she retrieves the tea and crackers and foists them upon a reluctant Ben. “I had to deal with _looks_ because of this, you know.”

Bleary-eyed and two seconds away from a sip, Ben seizes upon the opportunity for a distraction. “Looks? What kind of looks?”

Rey shakes her head at him with a knowing smile and nudges the cup closer, pointedly silent until he gives in with a sigh and gulps down half the cup.

“Apparently Leia’s idea of an emergency flu supply run looks a whole lot like a morning sickness starter pack,” she explains as he starts nibbling on a saltine with considerably less disgust. “Maz even came out from the back to ask if congratulations are in order.”

“As if I’d make you buy your own morning sickness supplies,” Ben scoffs as he washes the cracker down with the rest of his tea, making a show of draining every last bit for her.

She runs a hand through his sleep-rumpled hair before sliding her hand down to gently pat his cheek. “Good boy. Think you can handle some soup?” Rey asks as she gathers his cup and plate and makes to leave the couch. “And for the record, I’d be perfectly capable of getting my own saltines, pregnant or not.”

Ben reaches for her wrist, his grip feverish and looser than usual. “I know,” he assures her, his thumb stroking the inside of her wrist. “But you wouldn’t have to. I’d take care of you. I’ll always take care of you – you know that, right?”

Even with his eyes fever-glazed, Ben still looks at her like he holds all the world’s sincerity in his heart; she doesn’t think he’s ever made her a promise with anything less than that. Rey smiles as she leans down to kiss his burning forehead. “I know, baby. But for now maybe let me do the caretaking, okay?”

“For now,” he relents, and lets her go with a loopy smile that’s only partially flu-caused.

 

* * *

Ben continues to be sick for the next five days, and by the fourth so is Rey.

“You did this to me,” she accuses him on Tuesday night, squirming as he pulls her overheated body closer to his. “I _told_ you you were going to get me sick.”

“And _I_ told you it was going to happen whether or not I kissed you,” Ben counters easily, his voice almost back to normal after days of sounding like he’s hacking up a lung. “Besides, I promised to take care of you too, didn’t I?”

Rey settles against his chest with a huff. “You better.” She knows she’s being snippy, but she figures it’s well-deserved because somehow, Ben managed to transform his regular flu into some kind of stomach flu from hell before passing it on to her. Her rational brain knows that’s not how it works, but rational thinking went out the window after the fourth time she failed to stomach a goddamn cracker.

Ben presses a kiss to her clammy temple. “I will. I’ll wait on you hand and foot until you’re 100% back to normal, okay? I promise.”

He keeps his promise for a whole week, tending to her every need without so much as an aggravated sigh even when she wakes him up multiple times a night with a coughing fit or sudden bout of nausea. So when Ben _does_ finally suggest she see a doctor, she knows it’s not because he’s tired of playing nurse.

“I’m just worried, sweetheart,” he murmurs against her sweaty temple one morning when he’s running late, sitting on the bathroom floor with her instead of rushing out the door. “At least take another day off?”

“I’ve already stayed home for a whole week,” Rey protests as she struggles to get to her feet, only to have Ben scoop her up and seat her on their counter. “Besides, it’s probably just the last of this bug making its way through my system. I’ll be okay, baby.”

Ben frowns at her, complete with a crease between his brows and everything, but Rey maintains eye contact and refuses to back down. She knows he won’t hesitate to call in sick for her, won’t think twice before taking the day off himself to care for her, but at some point things have to go back to normal. And if her body refuses to acknowledge that, she’s more than willing to force it to play along.

“Look, staying cooped up in bed can’t be good for me,” Rey points out as she takes his hands in hers and gives them a little squeeze. “Maybe getting out of the apartment and actually moving around a bit will help me bounce back.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Ben says, but his shoulders sag and seconds later he lets out a defeated sigh. “But okay. Just… promise me you’ll call if you’re not feeling well?”

Rey smiles and presses a kiss to his jaw, painfully aware of the lingering acidic taste in the back of her throat. “I promise. Now go, you’re going to be late!”

It takes another five minutes before Ben actually leaves, and another hour after that before she makes her way out of the apartment. Rey’s not too worried about that, though; Holdo made it clear yesterday that she doesn’t expect Rey in at all this week, so she’ll hardly mind a little tardiness.

She’s a little over an hour late by the time she gets to her desk, but everyone’s too busy asking after her health to care about that. It takes what feels like an eternity before her coworkers finally break apart from the circle they’ve formed around her cubicle and get back to work, leaving her alone with Rose.

“I know you’re probably sick of talking about this,” Rose says with an apologetic little smile, “but are you sure you’re okay?”

“I mean, I might avoid the breakroom today, but other than that I’m perfectly fine,” Rey assures her. “Really, Rose, I’m practically back to normal. It’s just a bit of nausea being stubborn.”

Rose, already half-turned away, suddenly spins back to her. “Nausea?”

“Yeah, the joys of a stomach flu, right? All my other symptoms disappeared days ago, but I still can’t keep anything down. I gave Ben hell for getting me sick, but it probably wasn’t even him. _He_ was lucky enough to just get the regular– What?” Rey interrupts herself, skin prickling under Rose’s scrutiny.

Her friend has never been one to mince words, not even back when they were just colleagues, but there’s something delicate and careful about Rose’s next question. “Rey… are you sure it’s just a flu?”

“I mean, what else could it–”

She freezes up the second the thought occurs to her, rendered speechless mid-sentence.

Rose gives her a little smile. “Yeah. _That_.”

They spend their lunch break at the nearest CVS.

 

* * *

 

When Ben gets home on Thursday, she’s sitting cross-legged on the couch and twisting her fingers together into a hopeless, nervous knot.

“I went to the doctor today.”

He drops everything in a heartbeat, barely stops to kick the door shut behind him before he’s hurrying over to her side and taking her hands in his. “Rey, why didn’t you– I would’ve– oh god, is everything okay?”

She’d planned to build up to it a little, but Rey can’t bear the look of utter terror on her poor husband’s face for another second. “Ben, I’m fine,” she assures him, leaning down for a lingering kiss before she pulls him up to sit next to her. “It’s just…”

“Just?” Ben echoes, looking only slightly less terrified than he had ten seconds ago.

Rey decides to put him out of his misery.

“Remember that deal we made last week, to take care of each other?”

Ben nods. “Yes, of course,” he says as his brows knit together in concern. “Rey, whatever it is… I’m here for you, sweetheart. Always will be. Just tell me, please.”

She rises up on her knees to press their foreheads together, looping her arms around Ben’s neck as his hands find her waist. “I’m okay, I promise. It’s just… you definitely got the short end of the stick, babe.”

He draws back to frown at her. “What do you mean?”

Rey brings one hand up to cup his face, brushing her thumb along his cheek as she smiles. “Well, I only had to take care of you for a week.”

“Okay…?” Ben replies, concern slowly giving way to confusion.

She moves her free hand down to one of his, pulls it from her side to her abdomen. “Meanwhile you’re going to have to deal with _this_ ,” Rey whispers, applying the slightest bit of pressure on his hand and her stomach, “for another seven months.”

It takes a second, but she can see the exact moment Ben’s brain breaks. His eyes are fixed on hers but she knows he’s not actually looking at her, a million miles away as his lips part but nothing comes out, not until a full thirty seconds later when he finally says–

“Oh.”

And then, as his eyes trail down to their joined hands – “ _Oh_.”

“Terrible deal, wasn’t it?” Rey laughs when he finally returns his attention to her, only for her laugh to turn into a gleeful shriek as Ben gathers her up in his arms and jumps to his feet to swing her around, his exuberant laugh joining her rare giggles in the moments between kisses.

“Are you kidding me?” he grins once she’s finally grown dizzy enough to ask him to put her back down, and Rey blinks back a sudden well of tears as her husband kneels before her and presses a reverent palm to her belly.

“Best deal _ever_ ,” Ben declares, and doesn’t change his mind even once throughout the next seven months of morning sickness and midnight cravings.

**Author's Note:**

> Was this just another excuse to write devoted, married Reylo? ... Why yes, yes indeed.
> 
> Hard to believe it's been more than a month since I last posted anything, but time's weird like that. I'm glad to finally be back after a particularly hectic month, and I hope I'm not too rusty!
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and please don't hesitate to leave a comment!
> 
> [Tumblr](https://eleanor-writes-stuff.tumblr.com/) | [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hiraeth_writes)


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